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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Travel with 10 legs

People who know me nowadays know I'm a loner. I've very seldom go out with a partner. Let alone a group of people. I'm still shy when it comes to photographing in the presence of another photographer. Especially if said photographer is much more experienced. Maybe it's more avoiding the lectures and sometimes condescending tips. It's not that I don't want to learn. But it's more wanting to move forward from the regular lectures of Aperture over Exposure over ISO, that they seem to keep telling in the very beginning. So yeah, I expected that from one of the group at least... I was wrong.

Saturday night, I was hoping to get some sleep that night but as always, I didn't. Time passed by so fast, I didn't realize it's 6 am already. A little bit of editing my pictures and such and I didn't realize it's 9 am already. Damn! I was supposed to buy a tripod bag at 10 am. Finally got it though. There's still some time for whatever before the group walk. I was looking for a cheap motel but spending time looking for that motel, and ending up going to a farther but familiar one. Good thing I didn't check in. It was already 2:30 pm! C'mon! Can't a guy catch a little break here?

Groggy, cranky, and haggard, I went straight to meet the group. I planned on just lurking around and see what they're up to. But I figured, I might as well introduce myself. Yeah, I looked awkward. A big SLR backpack, a big bazooka tripod bag, obviously drooping eyes, and worst of all, messed up hair! I made a couple of excuses comprised of what honestly happens to me a lot... only this time, it's not true: I just came from a session of night photography... yeah right... good thing they didn't ask to see pictures of it. I got nothing to show.

Me and the boys including the one with his head chopped off.

I can't believe how relaxed they are. We just walk, someone talks sometimes, I ask questions and they answer. No one's pointing out which to capture. No one's telling me what to do with my camera. It almost seems like they don't even care I'm there. But they do. Whenever I lose track of them, they wait around. That is super cool in my book. I feel like they're my kind of people. Quiet, no need to talk, just read a person's mind (that's why there's no need to talk), yet enthusiastic whenever needed, do your own thing and I do my own thing type, and did I say quiet? Obviously, I had a blast. Of course there's always the loud one. The one who breaks the ice. And although I enjoy quiet people, I enjoy his company too. He may be loud, he may be a bit wild, but his actions makes sense. It's nice too, 'cause being a first timer, silence builds a bit of tension in the long run.

I would never be able to do this in an uptight country. Yeah, he's crazy.

It's too bad I was still a bit shy, even after a few hours. I saw many scenes I'd like to get back to. But this day, I took crappy shots. But one thing I've learned from all my personal walks is, "There's always a 'next time'"